Ravi Teja, a Tollywood star, and his driver appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday in connection with a money-laundering investigation into the 2017 narcotics case. The well-known actor arrived at the ED office about 10 a.m. in response to the agency’s summons.
Srinivas, Ravi Teja’s driver, and assistant, also appeared before ED authorities. Both will very certainly be questioned about their financial dealings. Calvin Mascarenhas, a key suspect, is also expected to be asked again. On Tuesday, his remark was taped, and the celebrities are now being questioned about it.
Ravi Teja is the sixth Tollywood star to appear in front of the ED. On Wednesday, Rana was interrogated for over seven hours to investigate possible connections between certain celebrities and the suspects in the case.
Last month, the ED served notices on ten people associated with Tollywood and two others, including a private club manager, as part of a money-laundering investigation into the smuggling of ‘Class A’ narcotic drugs, including LSD and MDMA. The ED has also called actors Navdeep, Mumaith Khan, and Tanish in connection with the narcotics ring disrupted in 2017 with the arrest of drug peddlers.
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Rana and Rakul Preet were not among the Tollywood stars questioned by Telangana’s prohibition and excise department’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) in 2017. Last year, the Narcotics Control Bureau in Mumbai asked Rakul Preet about an alleged narcotics connection in Bollywood. Customs officers detained Calvin Mascarenhas, a singer, and two others on July 2, 2017, and confiscated narcotics worth Rs 30 lakh from their hands.
They allegedly admitted to providing narcotics to movie stars, software developers, and even pupils at certain corporate schools to the investigators. Some Tollywood celebs’ phone numbers were purportedly discovered in their contact lists.
The excise department formed a special investigation team (SIT) to conduct a thorough investigation. Under section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and section 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 12 cases were filed, 30 persons were arrested, and 62 people, including 11 people associated with Tollywood, were investigated by the SIT.
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Those detained included an American, a South African, and a Dutch national. Some individuals who appeared before the SIT for the question had blood, hair, nail, and other samples taken and sent to the SIT for analysis. In eight of the twelve instances, the SIT submitted a charge sheet. The film personalities who were questioned as part of the inquiry, on the other hand, were given a clean bill of health.
